Bedsits arose from the subdivision of larger dwellings into low-cost accommodation at low conversion cost. In the UK a growing desire for personal independence after World War II led to a reduced demand for traditional boarding houses with communal dining. Bedsits are often occupied by young single people, students, those unable to purchase their own properties, or those whose occupancy is of a transitory nature; the cost is typically lower than for other types of property. Someone whose employment is a long distance from his/her home may sometimes rent a bedsit to reduce the cost and inconvenience of daily travel.

In 2013, regulations came into force in Ireland, under which landlords were obliged to provide each tenant with a separate bathroom, a four-ring cooker, access to laundry facilities and other basic facilities, or risk being fined up to €5,000.[1]

A bedsit can also be compared to a Sovietcommunal apartment, in which a common kitchen, bathroom, toilet, and telephone are shared by several families, each of which lives in a single room opening up onto a common hallway.

In Nigeria, a similar equivalent of a bedsit is the Face-to-face apartment buildings, where a group of one or two room apartments have their entrances facing each other along a walkway, which leads to the main entrance of the building which consists the apartments. The apartments, which often have shared bathrooms and Kitchen spaces, are low rent and are commonly used by the low income residents because of their affordability.[2]

Bedsits are often associated with poor people, and are mentioned in this way in "Late Lament" by The Moody Blues: "bedsitter people look back and lament/another day's useless energy spent". Justin Hayward, the song's composer and singer, wrote this in his own bed-sit at the age of 19. Scottish folk-rock singer Al Stewart's debut album is titled Bedsitter Images. In "I Fought in a War" by Scottish indie band Belle and Sebastian, mention is made of the "bedsit infamy of the decade gone before." The subject is also referenced for a similar purpose in "Legend in My Living Room" by Annie Lennox ["...Bright lights and trains and bedsit stains"] as well as the Soft Cell song "Bedsitter", about club life. David Bowie in "Song for Bob Dylan" from Hunky Dory (1971) sings: "You gave your heart to every bedsit room". The Clash song Capitol Radio remarks "phone in from your bedsit room".

Tracey Thorn, former singer in the group Everything But The Girl, has written a memoir book titled Bedsit Disco Queen published in February 2013.[3] In "Miss Gee," from W. H. Auden's Another Time, the title character is said to have "lived in Clevedon Terrace in a small bed-sitting room."[4]

Katharine Whitehorn's book Cooking in a Bedsitter (originally Kitchen in the Corner: a complete guide to bedsitter cookery), first published in 1961 and a classic of its kind, remained in print for thirty-five years. It was published by Penguin Books in the Penguin Handbooks series.